Crusoe Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) A game of two halves. Unfortunately for us. Cisak (5) - didn't have a lot to do to until his mistake for their goal. Got down too slow and too late. Byrne (5) - possibly a little harsh, but Wednesday had most of their first half joy down that side and his lack of pace (combined with Croft's lack of pace) could be an Achilles heel. Grounds (6) - very solid, composed, never looked troubled, and probably why they had little joy down that side of the pitch. Tarkowski (6 first half, 3 second half) - not afraid to put himself about a bit, but on a different day would have seen yellow. Repeatedly outmuscled by O'Grady and outrun in the second half and needed rescuing by Mvoto once. I don't like slating young players, but he's not ready yet, I'm sorry to say. Mvoto (6 first half, 4 second half) - started out reasonably strongly, good goal, but at fault (along with Cisak) for their first goal when he was caught ball watching, and looked shaky after. Really needs to work on the partnership with Tarky as they didn't seem to have an understanding of who each was picking up. Croft (8 first half, 6 second half) - lovely crossing, had a hand in both goals. But definitely conceded the penalty and his lack of pace left him unable to track back effectively. Would he be better teamed up with Brown? Second half he was marked out of the game and restricted to one shot well-saved by Kirkland. Mchangama (5) - I like this guy but he looked off the pace. He's not a winger and was clearly more comfortable cutting inside. We had little joy down the left as a result. Wesolowski (8) - impressed with not only predictable work rate, but getting forward. Put in a lovely cross for Slew's goal and had a nice volley well-saved by Kirkland. Kept running right to the end. Furman (6) - what we've come to expect; lots of running, tackling, and simple balls to keep possession. Anchored midfield. Shame his foul led to the free kick equaliser. Simpson (6) - nice touches, made himself available, and you could see he was always looking for the opening. I'm not sure he's going to be our great white hope for a 20-goal striker, though; I don't think that's his strong point, I think he's better at bringing others into scoring positions. Slew (8) - showed pace and work rate and competitiveness. Looks a good signing for us. My only minor criticism would be that he happily drifted out to the wings (mostly the right) and that meant Simpson didn't have anyone to play to when the ball came centrally. Subs: Hughes (5) - I guess he came on to give us more attacking options, but he ended up pinned back and defending. Not his strongest point. Smith (5) - on late and was never going to get much change out of a defence that size. Tried hard but couldn't hit the target with power. Other thoughts/lessons: Our central defensive partnership is brittle and Tarky isn't ready to be first choice yet. Put Byrne in the middle and Brown on the right, and give Tarky a chance in easier games. It's a paper thin squad and the bench doesn't look at all strong. Wes and Furman have got to be our first choice central midfield for their collective performance - at least in the first half they were greater than the sum of their parts and forced Wednesday to bring on Coke for Maguire to strengthen their team. And in the second the fault was more with our shaky central defence. We lack pace on the right, which Wednesday tried to exploit. And on the left we look solid, but didn't attack much. We looked a bit lopsided. An out-and-out left winger would be very useful. Mchangama is promising but he's not a winger. Overall there were positives - our first half play was excellent, we had both creativity and workrate. But our defence was appalling in terms of strength, positioning and decision-making, and we have no plan B when we're behind or under the cosh. Sticking Smith up front just isn't an improvement. We could really use a left winger and swapping Tarky out and giving him time to develop. Edited August 13, 2012 by Crusoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIKI1234 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Dave Jones showed dickov a master class in decision making tonight. Showed Dickov that you don't always have to go three at the back when losing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudemedic Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Dave Jones showed dickov a master class in decision making tonight. Showed Dickov that you don't always have to go three at the back when losing Yeah he spotted where we bossing it, in midfield, took a forward off, bought a midfielder on and moved his playmaker a bit further forward and went from a 4-4-2 to a 4-2-3-1. We try to play like that I think at times but Simmo didn't feature much second half. Jones probably makes as much as our entire coaching staff though and he was a good manager when Dickov was saving City in the play-offs. A bogus allegation put the breaks on what was a very very promising managerial career and he has ended up at Wednesday as a consequence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CD's Orange Heels Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Dave Jones showed dickov a master class in decision making tonight. Showed Dickov that you don't always have to go three at the back when losing This^^^^^^ Dickov got schooled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keepingthe Faith Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Money maker, some positives, some negatives. Learn from it, move on, not many league1 teams will come back at us from the kind of start we made, like SW did. ( Why does that :censored:in O'Grady always play like a world beater against us!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stargazer Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 The first half was terrific obviously. Wednesday were lethargic & Croft was superb in particular. However just like last years league game ,when they attacked their own fans & it got a bit noisy our back four turned to jelly. Please tell me my eyes deceived me .....and the second goal was not yet another set piecewith a free header and our defenders rooted to the ground. We sorely missed the composure Reece Brown brought to the defence at the end of last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoafc Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Ok, a dissapointing outcome but here's my thoughts : POSITIVES : First half was terrific i thought, one touch passing and movement and great closing down from front to back. Simpson and slew could be a handful in our league. Like the look of grounds. NEGATIVES : Usual lack of concentration from set pieces Tarky is a weak link at present, too easily out muscled and poor positioning still Once more we seem to lack a plan B, opposition managers change things at ht and we're clueless how to respond A proper jekyll and hyde performance, but the first half gives reason for optimism if we can eradicate the silly mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz_Oafc Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Excellent 1st half! Fell apart 2nd! We are painfully short as a squad! Im worried if dickov only brings in a LW. We still need a 1st choice CB, LW + ST MINIMUM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoafc Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I think that tonight showed m' changamas best position isn't LM/LW........reinforcement needed here asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opinions4u Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Let's not forget Wednesday beat us 2-0 and 3-0 last season. So at least we scored against them this time. And they are a Championship side. We had an excellent half hour, but Dave Jones had a squad depth that meant he could make a substitution and change a game. We had Connor Hughes and Matt Smith. I'm not too disappointed with the result. But it's gutting to lose a two goal lead. And if Kirkland hadn't made two great saves at 2-1 it could have been different. But it does suggest Dickov is a tad short tactically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worksop_Blue Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Its difficult to say sometimes against higher opposition how good/bad players are on a particular performance but there was definately stand out pluses and minuses for me. Attacking wise - Croft for me will do very well for us hes got that ability to get a good ball in the box constantly that we havent had for a while and on top of that he works hard. Left wing is still an issue, in one sense we look more solid as a midfield 4 but mark out Crofty and we dont have any real attacking threat. Hopefully if teams go for Crofty say doubling up on him it'll create space elsewhere but out lack of supply options is definatly a concern. Slew did ok, took his goal well peeling off his marker when everyone else went towards go, didnt see much of him second half but that wasnt his fault we tended to go more long ball when the pressure was on and couldnt play to feet as much. Hopefully in league one he'll get more time and space. Still a couple of strikers short, Matt Smith was his usual self, got in the right place but cant score for toffee. You look at the bench when we are losing and theres not alot of options....if either Simpson or Slew got injured we'd be knackered. Defense wise - our dear. Well mvoto I like, always have strong as an ox, cracking goal. Tarks is a big problem, same issuses as last season. No real strengths, average at best. Not strong enough, not particularly fast and poor positional sense. He's a liability. Byrnes could well be too, hes strong and pretty sound in the air but hes sooooo sloooow we'll get murdered time and again down that right wing, he'll be an obvious target. I like Grounds though very solid. If you look at that game tonight as an opposition coach you'll say we are hard working but if you keep up the tempo, mark out croft and attack the right back with pace you've got good chance against us. Maybe play Brown at right back and Cliff at centre half might be a better option and get a left winger in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz_Oafc Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Its our bench whats shockingly :censored:e! The sky commentators mentioned it a few times during the game saying our 1st XI is a match for most in league one but the squad is weak! Apart from Bouzanis, not one of the other 6 subs named tonight would have improved us or changed the game 2nd half! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafcprozac Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 This - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc joe Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 For God sake, cut everyone some slack, there were some really promising signs tonight - we scored two great goals - looked threatening all game, it's just we got caught by inexperience at the back, but Tarky will keep learning. Overall I think that was promising, the mane worry is how thin our squad is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudemedic Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Its our bench whats shockingly :censored:e! The sky commentators mentioned it a few times during the game saying our 1st XI is a match for most in league one but the squad is weak! Apart from Bouzanis, not one of the other 6 subs named tonight would have improved us or changed the game 2nd half! Don't think Brown would have done too bad from what I've heard about him but he isn't going to be that sort of sub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpTheLatics Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I think too many supporters are saying "learn from it". For me, those mistakes are ones that have hindered us for a long time. We lost tonight because our lads failed to respond to Wednesday's own response. Was there any doubt Dave Jones was not gonna rocket his players? There was not enough quality in Wednesday play to have thrown away a 2-0 lead. It was a capitulation in midfield and that ultimately highlighted our defensive frailties. Start as we mean to go on. Enough excuses, enough "ah well, they're a better side"s. They weren't better than us. I said this last season and I'll say it again: stop feeling sorry for ourselves, toughen up, and learn. Pleasing in some respects, of course. But to concede four goals with such ease, displaying brittleness as we did, was a major disappointment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stargazer Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I agree , the second half was brittle. Wednesday were bound to have a go second half after getting grief of their boss . We should have been ready to defend solidly for 15 minutes to kill the game .... this was the defences important time of the game & they did not deliver. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeP Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) For God sake, cut everyone some slack, there were some really promising signs tonight - we scored two great goals - looked threatening all game, it's just we got caught by inexperience at the back, but Tarky will keep learning. Overall I think that was promising, the mane worry is how thin our squad is You could say this about the last two years - plenty of promising signs but we're just not getting the results. Tonight just shows how little you can tell from pre-season friendlies. I'd take mid-table because I think it's going to be a long hard season. Defensively we're weaker than we were last season and despite our terrific start to the game tonight, our strikers faded badly. Throw into the mix that was us at full strength, I think there's real cause for concern. Dickov needs to bring in a centre-back to replace Tarky, a left winger and Leon Clarke. He also needs to realise that while M'Changama is an alright player, he's no set-piece taker. We also desperately need a Plan B other than throw Smith (who still hasn't lost his touch in the 6-yard box by the looks of things....) on to lump it up to. Was feeling positive after 45 minutes tonight, but come the 90 it just felt like last season had never really ended. Edited August 13, 2012 by JoeP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lags Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Not read the thread. Just out muscled (Tarky and Jean) way way way too easy. Even Chris O Grady! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanakapan Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 My view like it or lump it... Cisak...one mistake..it happens...I wish we had Kirkland tonight Byrne ok..old sod..steady.. Mvoto..ok Tarkowski...kid learning his trade.....good and bad..cannot blame him.. Mchangawamba ?..out of position.. Weslowski...best player..all effort..70s porn star moustache.. Slew.......ok but lost the plot..no service... Furman....ok The real villains.... Simpson.........Bertie big bollocks..senior player...went mising..Chris Taylor with a shorter haircut Croft...................FAT FAT FAT waste of space....ONE cross Thats 10 players................. Now who is totally missing ? Cannot have done much ...............Lost the plot after 30 mins...thought the job was done.................Something needs to change big time NOT GOOD ENOUGH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opinions4u Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Grounds is your missing player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanakapan Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Its difficult to say sometimes against higher opposition how good/bad players are on a particular performance but there was definately stand out pluses and minuses for me. Attacking wise - Croft for me will do very well for us hes got that ability to get a good ball in the box constantly that we havent had for a while and on top of that he works hard. Left wing is still an issue, in one sense we look more solid as a midfield 4 but mark out Crofty and we dont have any real attacking threat. Hopefully if teams go for Crofty say doubling up on him it'll create space elsewhere but out lack of supply options is definatly a concern. Slew did ok, took his goal well peeling off his marker when everyone else went towards go, didnt see much of him second half but that wasnt his fault we tended to go more long ball when the pressure was on and couldnt play to feet as much. Hopefully in league one he'll get more time and space. Still a couple of strikers short, Matt Smith was his usual self, got in the right place but cant score for toffee. You look at the bench when we are losing and theres not alot of options....if either Simpson or Slew got injured we'd be knackered. Defense wise - our dear. Well mvoto I like, always have strong as an ox, cracking goal. Tarks is a big problem, same issuses as last season. No real strengths, average at best. Not strong enough, not particularly fast and poor positional sense. He's a liability. Byrnes could well be too, hes strong and pretty sound in the air but hes sooooo sloooow we'll get murdered time and again down that right wing, he'll be an obvious target. I like Grounds though very solid. If you look at that game tonight as an opposition coach you'll say we are hard working but if you keep up the tempo, mark out croft and attack the right back with pace you've got good chance against us. Maybe play Brown at right back and Cliff at centre half might be a better option and get a left winger in? croft is FAT .........END OF............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveecky Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I think we started so quickly that the midfield burned out by the mid point of the second half - they didn't close down as well as first half and then Wednesday were able to play their way back in (helped by a shocking error from Cisak). Comments elsewhere about Tarkowsky are fair - he isn't strong enough yet, he's not quick and makes mistakes which cost, but he may be one for the future. Croft ran out of steam and couldn't cover - giving their winger too many one on ones, but he was a real threat going forward and his delivery was excellent.. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we manage to get a decent left midfield player and experienced centre back some time soon - I think we'll struggle to get anyone in. All in all though- it's not all doom and gloom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanakapan Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Grounds is your missing player. Thanks..he did ok ...he put a low cross in in second half that suggested he had a brain.....but nothing else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanakapan Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 I think we started so quickly that the midfield burned out by the mid point of the second half - they didn't close down as well as first half and then Wednesday were able to play their way back in (helped by a shocking error from Cisak). Comments elsewhere about Tarkowsky are fair - he isn't strong enough yet, he's not quick and makes mistakes which cost, but he may be one for the future. Croft ran out of steam and couldn't cover - giving their winger too many one on ones, but he was a real threat going forward and his delivery was excellent.. I'll be pleasantly surprised if we manage to get a decent left midfield player and experienced centre back some time soon - I think we'll struggle to get anyone in. All in all though- it's not all doom and gloom. Croft ran out of steam...because he is a stone too heavy..............St Johnstone conditioning guy scared him off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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